(MEDIA: High-resolution photos of the Goodall Environmental Studies Center are available in the Wofford Newsroom by clicking here.)

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Wofford College’s Goodall Environmental Studies Center is one of five restoration projects to receive Historic Preservation Honor Awards from the Palmetto Trust. Palmetto Trust director Michael Bedenbaugh presented the award to college trustees at their May meeting on Monday, May 16, on campus.

The Palmetto Trust for 16 years has recognized exceptional accomplishments in historical preservation, rehabilitation, restoration and interpretation of South Carolina’s architectural and cultural heritage with its annual Preservation Awards.

In 2005, Wofford joined with local residents of Glendale to bring new life to the Glendale Mills office and tower located on the Lawson’s Fork Creek. The original textile mill, built in 1832, burned in 2004, leaving only the office building and the remnants of two towers and a smoke stack. A complete rehabilitation of the office building produced the Goodall Environmental Studies Center, which was the first academic building in South Carolina to attain LEED Platinum certification while retaining its historic integrity. Work was completed in 2009. McMillan Pazdan Smith Architects led the restoration.

“The Goodall Environmental Studies Center represents a whole new dimension of interdisciplinary research and fieldwork at Wofford College,” President Benjamin B. Dunlap says. “We currently offer the state’s only undergraduate major in environmental studies, and our state-of-the-art facility is in many ways unique in both its location on the Lawson’s Fork Creek in an historic textile mill town and its programs.

“The historic nature of the building has been preserved while incorporating important sustainability features, such as state-of-the-art efficient heating and air-conditioning systems, employment of the creek water for dual-flush commodes, and the use of some of the building’s original furnishings,” he adds.